![](/uploads/1/2/7/5/127594980/260263184.jpg)
Drive on Moscow, a strategy game from the award-winning makers of Battle of the Bulge. Defend the homeland as the Soviets, or lead a bold push to seize the Soviet capital as the Axis.
Finally ithas arrived. We've waited almost a full year for another game from Shenandoah Studioand here it is. Drive on Moscow. Nowthe first title they released, Battle ofThe Bulge, revolutionized wargaming on mobile devices.
It showed the world- hey strategy wargaming works great on the iPad! Sure, there were otherstrategy games out there before Battle ofThe Bulge, but they didn't catch as much attention, because honestly theydidn't revolutionize mobile wargaming as Battleof The Bulge had. And since then many developers decided to jump in andstart up their own iPad games.
Fans of the game couldn't wait for what wascoming down the road. Well the wait is over.So it?sbeen a year, and the question many people are asking is whether Drive on Moscow is as good as Battle ofThe Bulge? Let?s find out?PROSAmazing Map - I have to say the map for Drive on Moscow is absolutely beautiful.It looks great zoomed out but when you pinch in you see such amazing detail;from the wooden planks of the train tracks to individual trees, it?sincredible. What?s more amazing is they change with the seasons. So instead ofmaking one beautiful map, they created four (Clear, Mud, Frost, & Snow)incredible maps. Props for Shenandoah Studios for putting in this much detail.Weather - Weather is full on in this game and itaffects everything you do. It changes the way you play the game and is amazing.During fall it?s the Germans who shine as they plunge deep into Russia and obliterateyour fresh, inexperienced forces.
But come winter, it?s the Soviets time to shineas the Russian winter beats down the Axis forces, and gives the Soviets theopportunity they need to counterattack. For example, in one scenario I wasplaying I retreated across a river hoping the river would give me a gooddefense bonus, but then I realized it was near winter and the river had frozenover which meant the enemy can easily walk across and attack. Had to reassess mybattle plans, which is great because it adds a new layer of gameplay strategyto an already great game.Intuitive Gameplay - They kept the gameplay easy to learn anduse, just like in Battle of The Bulge.The learning curve on how to play the game is literally 5-10 minutes. This is abig deal since most casual players don't want to spend 20-30+ minutes learninghow to play a game? They want to jump right in and play.Historical Information - Shenandoah Studio has packed thisgame with TONS of historical documentation. So if you decide to learn moreabout the backstory to Operation Barbarossa, they provide you with pages andpages of in depth documentation.
Because I?m a history buff I?m very familiarwith this time in history, and was impressed with the accuracy of theinformation the game provides.Multiplayer is Great - One of the missing features of Battle of The Bulge was its multiplayersocial experience. When playing a opponent in a multiplayer match communicationis a key aspect of gameplay. Most players like me use it for taunting the otherplayer, or for congratulating them on a successful match. In Battle of The Bulge the only way you cancommunicate was by adding a short message into a small text box at the end ofyour turn. When your opponent logged on to do their turn they would see yourmessage, but have to wait until they completed all their moves, before theycould respond. It was a basic and frustrating system.
But Drive on Moscow has solved all that. Whenever you want tocommunicate with the other player you can easily chat on for as long as youlike, and never have to deal with the old turn based message system.Long Term Replayability - This game has a lot of replayability,as you have four scenarios (well three scenario and one long campaign) to playaround with. Add in different AI leaders, as well as a multiplayer aspect andyou have a game that you can sink dozens of hours into.CONSReinforcement & Replacement Unit Allocation - One big feature for the game isallocating your reinforcement and replacement units.
This is a necessity as youneed to refit your units and strengthen your front line. Unfortunately youcan't reinforce all your units only certain ones. So if you have a unit that'son the other side of the map and desperately needs extra troops. They?re outof luck. This might have something to do with some units being more distantfrom Moscow, but still it?s a bit frustrating that you can?t reinforce theunits you want to.Bad UI Tweaks - In Battleof The Bulge, the onscreen User Interface showed three important pieces ofinformation, but that information is buried in Drive on Moscow. The first two are Date & Time. The Date & Timein the game shows you how much time you have left in your turn phase.
In Battle of The Bulge you can easily lookat the top left corner of the screen to get a quick view of it. Now this isburied in the Menu category.
So you have to tap Menu now, view the time &date, then close out the menu to return to the game. It adds more work forsomething that should be easy to view.The otherUI(User interface) tweak they did was the End Turn button. When you wanted toend your turn in Battle of The Bulge all you needed to do was tap?Commit? Itwas simple and easy to find on the main screen.
But now it has been replacedwith the flag of your nation. So now you have to tap the flag and?Commit?
Willthen appear for you to end your turn. Again this adds more work for the player that?snot necessary.I have afeeling they changed this to have more of the in game map displayed on thescreen, but honestly the old User Interface never interfered or disturbed mygameplay experience. The changes they made have.Multiplayer Bug - Sometimes I play both single player and multiplayermatches at the same time. Usually after I finish a turn in multiplayer, I runon over to single player to play a scenario or two. But a few times, while Iwas in single player mode about to make a move the game ripped me out andloaded my multiplayer match, all because my opponent just finished his turn. Ithink this is a bug in the game, which hopefully will be fixed with a patch.Sometimes AI Makes Rash Decisions - While playing some single playergames I noticed the AI making some rash decisions.
For example I had threeSoviet units that were fortified near the gates of Moscow. The AI (German Side)decided to send one infantry unit against my three fortified units. This was asuicidal move, which resulted in that unit?s destruction.
I notice this happensfrom time to time.RecommendationsOption to Extend Scenarios - I would like to see a optionadded where if a scenario ends I would be able to extend it until all enemyunits are destroyed. A lot of times when playing scenarios I'm just about tobreak the enemy front line but unfortunately the scenario ends the game beforeI can crush the enemy.Retreat During Combat - There are times where the enemyoutnumbers you and you?re about to be obliterated, instead of your unitfighting a hopeless battle I wish there would be a option where I can force aretreat during combat.
The unit will take some damage but it will survive. Thisalso works for the attacker; just in case your offensive is taking too manylosses you can force a retreat and salvage your attack group.Add Weather Status to Main Screen - The weather status icon whichrepresents if there's clear skies, rain or snow going on in the game is buriedin the menu section. I would like to see this moved to the main game screen so it'smuch easier to identify what kind of weather is affecting the game. This willdefinitely help newcomers to the game as they don't have to constantly open upthe menu section to find out what kind of weather they?re experiencing.CONCLUSIONSo afterhours and hours of playing I must admit that Drive on Moscow is an incredible game. There?s only one other iPadgame that I?ve sunk in a equal share of time and that?s Battle of The Bulge. If you were to ask me does Drive on Moscow revolutionize strategywargaming on tablets?
I?d say no it doesn?t. But it?s an evolutionary stepforward. Battle of The Bulge set the standardfor strategy wargaming on the iPad. Driveon Moscow takes that standard and pushes it even further.Drive on Moscow is priced at $9.99 and if you?re wondering isit worth it - rest assured it is.
![Game Game](http://kameronbrothers.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/2015-11-Miami-Downtown-1-of-1.jpg)
I would strongly recommend getting this gamewhether you?re a Battle of The Bulgeveteran, or if you just got an iPad and want to play a really cool strategygame. You won?t regret it. Purchase The Game.
![](/uploads/1/2/7/5/127594980/260263184.jpg)